Lynne Kelly – The memory code – 3.30 Saturday

Jan Wositzky introduced us to Lynne Kelly who’s writing on memory skills of indigenous cultures worldwide: Celtic, Welsh, Peruvian, Native American, Australian Aboriginal…. Lynne became aware of the thousands of animals and plants, astronomical charts, vast navigation networks, genealogies, geography, land management and geology … vast amounts of factual information that was critical for the physical and cultural survival of societies and cultures. Knowledge maintained without writing.  Lynne was so amazed by the memory skills of indigenous cultures that she changed her PhD topic to ask the question: How can they remember so much stuff? 

She will tell the story of how she followed unexpected paths which, after a lot of tears on the way, eventually led to ‘The Memory Code’.  Lynne will explain the critical role of songlines and stories. She’ll explain why understanding these extraordinary memory skills explains the purpose of many enigmatic monuments around the world.

Sunday Workshop 11.30 am

In order to write about indigenous memory systems, Lynne Kelly had to dive in a try them for herself. The claims seemed just too far-fetched. Can we use these memory methods in contemporary life? Absolutely. Lynne will teach participants some of the memory methods drawn from indigenous cultures. We will use the landscape along with portable decorated objects and encode them with practical contemporary information. We have a great deal to learn from the extraordinary mnemonic skills of indigenous cultures.